


The Mysterious Party Goer

by thebureauisclosed (insibbegerest)



Series: Acing High School [2]
Category: American Revolution RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Party, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5449055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insibbegerest/pseuds/thebureauisclosed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In short, John Laurens is disgusted with everything in this world but Alex and very few more honest fellows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mysterious Party Goer

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo, a little sequel to my ace!John fic :) I'm afraid it's not as fluffy as the previous one but don't worry, you will definitely get to read about our boys being sappy and in love as well. Hehe.  
> While I know this story isn't necessarily the most realistic thing ever, there is one thing about it I WANT to be realistic - John's asexuality. And let me tell you, although I am mostly proud and content to be ace, sometimes it can suck, too. It's a good thing both me and John have great people around us to make us feel better when we sometimes doubt ourselves :3

A half-naked girl who could have been no older than fourteen or fifteen winked at John seductively while passing by. John downed the rest of his drink and whispered, "Remind me again, what the hell are we doing here?"

"Eating free food, drinking free booze and talking shit about Jefferson," Alex replied. "Are you not having fun?"

"I'd rather go somewhere else. You know, somewhere with a lower concentration of assholes."

Suddenly, an inebriated Hercules Mulligan emerged out of thin air, clapping Alex on the shoulder and joining the conversation, "You wouldn't actually consider leaving, would you, Laurens? What about poor Romulus and Remus?" Romulus and Remus, those were the names of Jefferson's two pet snails. He has been their proud owner for a year now and the party he threw was supposed to be a celebration of their 'birthday'. Everything in Jefferson's life was worth celebrating, apparently. He found the trousers he'd been looking for for days? A reason to party! His English test was better than Hamilton's? Awesome, free drinks for everyone!

"I think that poor Romulus and Remus wouldn't give a fuck," said John. "They're living in their own snail world and ignoring us."

"How can you be so sure what's going on in a snail's brain, huh?" said Mulligan.

"Snails don't have brains, they have ganglia," John pointed out.

Alex smiled, "You're such a biology nerd."

"And you're such a social sciences nerd."

"You're two awful gay nerds and I love you both for that," Mulligan slurred drunkenly. Before the boys could react, someone's hand grabbed Mulligan by the shoulder, dragging him away from them. No one was shocked when they realized the hand belonged to Lafayette. Their French friend was usually a happy drunk, but today, he switched to his whiny mode and needed someone to keep him company and tell him how amazing and worthy he is.

Alex heaved a sigh of relief, "Good. I was worried Mulligan would start crying and kissing us or something."

"Yeah, he does that," John nodded with a serious expression. "The last time he got drunk, he told me seven times how much he liked my jacket and then he kissed my nose."

Alex burst into laughter. "God bless Hercules Mulligan. Such a huge guy, yet such a light weight."

John nodded and took a quick look around to see if Hercules was still anywhere nearby. However, he got distracted by the sight of everyone's least favorite classmate, Jefferson. Jefferson was propped against the table, one of his hands squeezing a glass of champagne and his eyes hungrily following Theodosia Prevost's every move.

"Alex, do you see how Jefferson keeps undressing Theo with his eyes? He's so fucking creepy. Shouldn't we warn her about him?"

To John's surprise, Alex snorted. "Jefferson is a creep, that's true, but Theo has nothing to worry about. He's too much of a chicken to even approach her, let alone try anything."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He used to have a crush on Angelica Schuyler, or maybe he still does, who knows. Anyway, he's been into her for _years_ and never even managed to address her without turning into a babbling mess. In the end, our brave man wrote a short letter in which he was asking Angelica to go out with him, but he got so scared he had to send Madison to give it to her."

John laughed. "Oh god. How did Angelica respond?"

"She asked James to tell his best friend that she would never date such an arrogant sexist pig. Jefferson didn't show up at school until the end of the week."

"Serves him about right."

"Yeah. Anyway, we can keep an eye on him if you're still worried. And if we see him as much as touch anyone without their consent, we'll beat the shit out of him and throw him out of the window."

"Now that's a plan I can get behind!"

It only took about a minute for Jefferson to completely forget about Theodosia because he was approached by another girl. She seemed familiar to John, she probably attended the same school, but he had no clue what her name might have been. One thing was certain though – she was beautiful and Jefferson was, judging by the color of his cheeks, very aware of that.

"Who is that girl?" John asked. "I think I've met her before. She seems to have taken a liking to our dear host."

Alex went pale. Or was it only John's imagination? "That's Maria Reynolds," Alex said slowly.

"Why the long face?"

"We don't get to choose our faces, so I guess she was born that way. What a rude thing to ask, Laurens."

They were interrupted by a loud whistle. Everyone in the room went quiet. Their attention was stolen away by Maria whose lips had let out the distracting sound. She smirked and spoke, "Thomas has just suggested that we all play something fun. Who's in?"

Jefferson looked a bit too puzzled for this to have been his idea, so John suspected Maria had actually been the one to come up with it.

"I'm in!" The first one to respond, of course, had to be Alexander. God damn him, John had always hated drinking games. Drinking was nice and so were games, but combined, they created a monster. But Alex had already confirmed his participation and John couldn't just leave his useless boyfriend on his own, could he?

"I'm also in," he said grudgingly.

Almost everybody present joined in as well. They all sat down on the carpet, forming a circle. John squeezed himself between Alex and Lafayette and waited for the catastrophe to begin.

"Before we start," Lafayette said, "where are Madison and Burr? I would so love to see them make idiots out of themselves."

"Shut up, Lafayette," said Theodosia. "And Aaron broke his wrist this morning when he fell off the bed."

People in the circle exchanged knowing looks. Hearing about the incident surprised no one, as they were well aware Aaron Burr was a living disaster.

"And James?" Peggy asked. She and Martha were seated comfortably next to each other, holding hands, occasionally giggling, kissing and doing other disgustingly sweet coupley things.

This time, Jefferson was the one to chime in with an answer, "Downstairs, probably reading. I invite him to all my parties and he always arrives, but after about half an hour of awkward socializing ends up sulking somewhere quiet with one of my books."

"Then why'd you even invite him?"

"I have manners!" Jefferson said. "And James is a good friend, if not exactly a chatty one."

For a moment, John almost considered standing up, saying goodbye and joining James in his douchebag-free and teenagers-licking-each-other's-faces-free reading corner, but he guessed neither Madison nor Alex would approve of that action.

"Well then, it seems we'll have to start without them," Alex shrugged. "Which game are we playing?"

"Never have I ever?" Maria suggested. "It's a classic."

...reading seemed even more tempting now. Everyone would ask awful sexual questions and brag about how many people they had fucked and of course they'd include all the weird details. John really couldn't imagine an evening better spent.

Whatever. He had to lie a lot, drink a lot and somehow survive this horror. It couldn't be too difficult, right?

Jefferson began, "Never have I ever had sex with a guy." And here it was.

John quickly considered his options. He decided to go with honesty this time; being a virgin at seventeen was still quite understandable, he hoped. While his glass stayed intact, Alex, Lafayette, Mulligan and Maria took a shot (and many others, but John thankfully didn't know the rest).

"Waait," Jefferson shot a glance at John who wasn't sure he wanted to know what would come next, "I thought you were gay, Laurens?"

"I am," John said.

"And seeing this guy?" Jefferson pointed at Alex.

"I am," John repeated. Ugh, Thomas fucking Jefferson and his _gay guys do nothing but get laid all day and night_ stereotypes.

There was silence. John and Thomas were looking at each other; John annoyed and Thomas baffled.

Lafayette cleared his throat, saving them from the awkward moment, "Hey, are we just gonna stare at each other stupidly for the rest of the night, or...?

"Never have I ever watched porn," said Theodosia and John could see everyone around him, with a very few exceptions, raise their glasses. He did, too, although reluctantly. Porn was so overrated, he tried to watch it once and it bored him so much he almost fell asleep after two minutes. At least now he could be grateful for the unmistakable burning sensation of alcohol going down his throat. He was getting drunk. And upset. Not that he knew why, he just knew he really felt like kicking someone's face; that was the effect partying at Jefferson's place usually had on him, though.

The next one was _never have I ever made out with anyone,_ the one after that _never have I ever puked on anyone's shoes._ Then it was _never have I ever stolen anything_ and _never have I ever fucked someone in a public space._ With two more shots inside him (the first one was for making out and the other, okay, he might have thrown up on Mulligan this one time) and with everyone around him getting more and more drunk and sleazy and undressed, John just wanted the fucking party to be over already.

He tugged at Alex's sleave, "Alex."

"Yes, Mr. Puked-on-Mulligan's-feet?"

"I'm bored and kinda pissed off and I miss my bed."

"Aw, my dearest Laurens is being grumpy," Alex grinned, tousled John's hair and leaned in for a small kiss. "Want to leave already?"

_Yes, let's go now,_ he'd wanted to say, _I hate Jefferson and I hate how everyone here is so shallow and judgmental and stupid and all those sexual questions are making me feel wrong and I need to get out of here and spend some time just lying next to you and talking about unimportant things to calm myself down._ He had a change of mind though after noticing how relaxed and satisfied Alex seemed to be even in this den of evil. He was beaming from ear to ear and John, unsure if it was caused by all those drinks or by him being incredibly gay, almost wanted to cry at how beautiful Alex was. "You're so pretty," he blurted out instead.

Alex dissolved into laughter. "Thank you so much, John, so are you. But it doesn't answer my question, you know."

"We can leave after one or two more rounds," said John, "but if the next one is something like _never have I ever fucked seventeen people at once while listening to Taylor Swift and driving a Lamborghini_ and everyone around me takes a shot and starts telling stories,I swear to god I'm outta here."

Maria cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Now me." When John lifted his gaze, he noticed that Maria was staring right at him and for some reason, it was making him feel uneasy. "This might be kinda against the rules, but I'm curious, so fuck it. Never have I ever screwed _or_ wanted to screw Alex Hamilton." And as soon as the last syllable left her mouth, she downed another drink. "Just to clarify," she added, "it was the first one in my case."

John took a deep breath. Then let it out. Closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. Well wasn't this irony? Everyone expected him to raise his glass without a moment of hesitation but here he was, unable to move or say anything. He ignored the people (mostly girls, but some boys as well) drinking around him and pretended not to hear the giggling and one hushed _I wouldn't say no, I mean look at him._

And in what universe was this an okay thing to ask about a person _whose boyfriend was sitting right there, in the fucking room?_ Even if John did want to screw Alex senseless, it would still be fucking disrespectful and embarrassing. He didn't want that, though, which added a whole new pile of shitty thoughts he would have to deal with.

Alex was the only person in the world who truly understood John. He had always been there for him, always had patience, always knew what to say. Made him feel safe. And John knew he was overreacting, but the idea that some random girl who had slept with Alex once or twice thought it would be funny to throw something like this in his face, to belittle their relationship like this, was filling him with rage.

He flung his glass away ( _"_ What the fuck," Jefferson could be heard yelling in the background, "whose idea was it to give anything made of glass to _Laurens?_ "), got up on his feet and set out for the door without a word of explanation.

As he was hurrying down the stairs, John pretended not to hear the footsteps behind him. He darted out of Jefferson's house into the cold streets of New York, realizing only too late he had forgotten his gloves inside, but not giving a damn about it anyway.

"John! Wait!" Alex, of course. John didn't respond, he was too upset to act rationally. He slowed down his pace though, so that Alex could catch up with him.

And then, out of thin air... a terrible thought occurred to him. He recalled the frightened expression on Alex's face when he had spotted Maria at Jefferson's. Why would Maria scare him, though? And why would she look so smug? Why would she feel the need to say the things she said?

John stopped so abruptly that Alex bumped into him. "Alex... Can I ask you something?"

"Of course?"

Ever so slowly, John turned around to face Alex. He was praying he was wrong about this, but... he needed to be sure. "The thing you had with Maria... When did it happen?"

Alex blinked. "Some four or five months ago, why?" His eyes widened with understanding. "Oh shit, you thought... It was one night, long before you and I got together. I didn't cheat on you, I wouldn't do that!"

John let out a breath of relief. He trusted Alex enough to believe he wouldn't lie straight to his face about anything serious. "Okay, I believe you. I'm sorry."

"John." Alex placed his hands on John's shoulders. "Are you mad at me?"

"Um, no? But I'm pretty much mad at the rest of this stupid world. Especially Reynolds."

"Yeah, she sucks." Alex paused. "For more reasons than one. That night with her... I only remember bits and pieces because we were both drunk as hell. She texted me a few days after that, saying how much she enjoyed it and that we should hang out some time. Not that it wasn't flattering but I wasn't interested and I told her that much. She got absolutely furious, though. Started bombarding me with messages and complaining about me to everyone she met. Also... she mentioned she took some... interesting photos and even a short video that night and threatened she would upload it on the Internet or something. And although I'm sure I looked gorgeous in those pictures, I'd rather not see them posted everywhere, you know."

"She did what?!"

"Shh, stop yelling." Alex put a finger against John's lips. "I managed to talk her out of it because I'm just that charming and persuasive, so don't worry."

John shook his head in disbelief, "If I ever see her again, she's dead, I'm not even kidding."

"And people think _I_ am the aggressive one."

"Because they don't know me. And that cow was blackmailing you, of course I'm being aggressive! Who the fuck does she think she is? And who does she think you are? What kind of a person would..."

"Hey, it's fine, I told you she backed away. And she deleted all the pictures."

"Honestly, when I hear things like this, I'm grateful for being ace," John said. "Almost. I mean, I often don't understand what people are talking about and I feel weird and left out at times and I'm scared that one day I just won't be enough for you and you'll leave me, but... yeah, it has its advantages too, I guess." John winced at his own little speech. He really shouldn't be allowed to drink, it made him talk like an idiot and complain about anything and everything.

...well, technically he wasn't allowed to drink because hello, American law, but... details.

And now Alex was frowning at him. Shit. "Wait, you really think I'd leave you?"

John sighed, "No, I... sorry, don't mind me, I'm half-drunk and tired and I don't know what I'm saying. Can we go home now, please?"

"No but do you actually believe what you said? Because you're not getting rid of me!" Alex stuck out his chin stubbornly. "Or have I done something wrong? Is that it? Is it my fault? Did I make you feel like you owe me something, because you don't owe me anything, you know, I'm just happy that you are you and that we can be together and..."

"Whoa there, Alex." John raised his hands. "You're talking too fast."

Alex smirked, "Nothing new about that."

"Yeah. Look, I... I'm really happy that I can be with you, too, but... sometimes I just... don't understand," John said. "You could have anyone. The way people were looking at you at that party... You're like, the most handsome and funniest person in the whole city and girls swoon when you as much as look their way. They would do anything to get to date you, and yet you pick a messed-up guy like me. Why? Why would you choose _me_? Makes no sense."

Alex's expression changed into something sad, almost painful to look at.  "It makes perfect sense to me," he said, trying to keep his voice calm, "so please, don't say anything like this ever again. Ever. Stop berating yourself so much, stop saying you're not enough. You are more than enough, you mean so much to me and I hate it when you're being like this."

"I just..." Suddenly there were two arms around John, hugging him tight as though their owner's life depended on it.

"So what if you don't want to get in my pants, I can live with that. Worse things happen. And," Alex wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "I can always spend some nice alone time with Mr Righthand, if you know what I mean."

John had to laugh at that. "Christ, Alex..."

"Hey, I haven't finished talking yet."

"I know you haven't, you're never finished talking. Your whole life is one huge monologue with occasional breaks for food or sleep." A small smile tugged at John's lips. "Or your good friend Mr Righthand, I presume. Okay, sorry, go on."

Alex smirked. "Right. What I wanted to say is, you're pretty awesome and I don't get why you'd think I should want to be with anyone else when I can be with you. Okay?"

John forced himself to nod. What Alex was telling him still seemed more like a fairytale than reality, but he sounded so sincere John didn't dare argue with him. "Okay."

Alex pulled away a bit so that he could look into John's eyes, but his arms remained wrapped around John. "Can  I kiss you now?"

John laughed, "You know you don't have to ask me that."

"Yeah, but you always laugh when I do." Alex's hands slid up to John's face, cradling it affectionately. "So was that yes?"

"A hell yes."

Smiling, Alex covered John's lips with his own.

 

* * *

 

(11:30) omelettedufromage: laurens?

(11:31) JLo: John is in the shower right now

(11:33) omelettedufromage: then who am i speaking to?

(11:33) omelettedufromage: that u ham

(11:35) JLo: Who else? ;)

(11:37) omelettedufromage: oooh so u boys had a sleepover! lovely

(11:38) omelettedufromage: did u braid each other's hair

(11:38) JLo: Sure... You jealous?

(11:41) omelettedufromage: very... i just wanted to ask, is john ok? i think he was pretty uncomfortable at that party yesterday...

(11:43) JLo: Yeah, he was :( I wanted to punch myself for dragging him there in the first place, but... too late for that. Anyway I walked him home last night, we talked, spent some time making out in the middle of the street (hehehe) and then I stayed at his place because I was too lazy to go home. I fell asleep on his lap pretty much the moment we stepped into his room lol

(11:44) JLo: He's fine now though :)

(11:44) JLo: If he wasn't, I wouldn't be sitting here... I'D BE FIGHTING EVERYONE WHO WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO MAKE HIM FEEL LIKE CRAP BECAUSE JOHN ISN'T ALLOWED TO FEEL LIKE CRAP WHEN I'M AROUND TO PREVENT IT

(11:45) JLo: He doesn't deserve to feel bad, you know

(11:45) JLo: He doesn't deserve anything bad

(11:46) JLo: wtf alex what did i tell you about using my laptop?

(11:46) JLo: That I can borrow it anytime I want to?

(11:48) JLo: no aekghjkkfosdlpsokfijsgkopfldsfghj

(11:49) omelettedufromage: ...r u guys wrestling for that laptop again

(11:56) omelettedufromage: ugh i give up, i'm outta here, god knows what u fuckers are doing there...

(11:58) omelettedufromage: see u later and stay gay

_omelettedufromage is currently offline_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading; kudos and comments would make me very happy! :) If you want to get in touch or something, my tumblr url is acelaurens.


End file.
